


may this always remind

by sapoeysap



Category: Power Rangers, Power Rangers Dino Charge
Genre: F/F, Friends to Lovers, alternate timeline (canon), kendall and shelby are both idiots, mostly from kendall's perspective, pr femslash ficathon 2017
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-09-29
Updated: 2017-09-29
Packaged: 2019-01-06 21:32:18
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12219345
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sapoeysap/pseuds/sapoeysap
Summary: Her 18th year was full of studying and part time shifts at the museum as well, but she had never had the burden of the world upon her shoulders, not in the way Shelby does.





	may this always remind

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Mara](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Mara/gifts).



> Kendall and Shelby means a thousand heart eyes
> 
> for mara, its short but i think its sweet  
> (im sorry it got a bit Chase-y)

“I’d hate to admit it” Shelby pouts, doing a little shimmy because she knows she’s right. “But the stego connector thing-a-majig-“

“It’s a line-pipe” Kendall rolls her eyes, correcting Shelby.

“But the stego line-pipe totally worked. And your mad that it was my idea”, and it takes a lot of willpower on Kendall’s part to not shout as Shelby playfully pokes her then shimmy victory dances out of the room.

Kendall’s long-suffering sigh echoes around base, bouncing of off the equipment, leading to a perplexed look from a crinkle eyed Koda. Who’s walking back into his little cavern probably at the daggers she is glaring into him.

The thing that Kendall hates the most, is just how much Shelby has grown and developed in her short time as a ranger. Her 18th year was full of studying and part time shifts at the museum as well, but she had never had the burden of the world upon her shoulders, not in the way Shelby does. And even at 24 with her teenage years fading into the distance and adulthood eating her up, she doesn’t think she could cope. Those are the thoughts she buries down deep. Because her team can’t know that steadfast dependable Kendall sometimes can’t cope as well. And instead the thoughts that come to her mind of how nice Shelby looks, how the boasting is more playful than anything else. More a proving of her skills, she’s still young enough to not know better, that boasting won’t get her anywhere. Kendall indulges it, but its Shelby. Her pink. (buried as well in Kendall’s thoughts, is the fact that only Shelby is ‘hers’ the rest are just, ‘the’)

* * *

 

And then Kendall’s a ranger as well. And it’s hard. Just because she has always been ‘with them’ per say, doesn’t mean she views herself on the same level. Their family, she’s just the scientist, the behind the scenes. Not ever the front line. She tells herself that every time she calls Prince Phillip up instead of herself, because even he feels more like family to them than she feels she does.

Chase is the first to work it out. He’s been around her the longest. And under the headphones there might be a few brain cells knocking about loathe she is to admit it. His accent lilts as he corners her.

“We see you as family mate. We’re all in this together etcetera etcetera”

She doesn’t even protest when he pulls her into a hug. She does however protest when he whispers in her ear “just tell her you like her”. And he disappears around the corner, the grating sound of his skateboard wheels and the ringing of his words in her ears. She can’t have been that transparent. Not with feelings as important as this.

* * *

It turns out, that Chase is just stirring the pot, because when you sit all day with headphones on, pretending to fix skateboard wheels, when all you’re really doing is scouting for information. And realising that your teammates are hopelessly head over heels for each other. And that there both the most stubborn members of the team, so expecting a conclusion to the epic saga of stolen glances and wistful thinking is not in the near future. So yeah Chase stirs it up. Teases them about it subliminally. Shelby ignores it better, but her skin doesn’t hide her blush, Kendall acts like it’s the worst thing in the world, like loving someone might make her weak.

* * *

Your supposed to confess your love before a big battle, so that you go in with no regrets, so you can do some crazed self-sacrificing act if needs be. And know that you have confessed your love. Neither Shelby, nor Kendall do this.

And then there’s some crazed time warp and dinosaurs are real.

* * *

 

Kendall learns that family, found family, can be redrawn, it’s not a finality, not ever something you settle for. Ivan and Koda are gone, and that leaves this gaping wound in the family. So perhaps that’s why it happens the way it does.

Shelby’s neglecting her feelings, and how much she misses Koda and Ivan, diving in to work. Picking up the menial tasks that no one wants to do, and doing them with such passionate fervour and a crazed tired look in her eye.

They still use the base, even though it doesn’t have a ranger related purpose anymore. It’s Kendall’s retreat from this crazed dinosaur land and the thoughts that no one on earth realises that this is some incorrect imposter timeline.

Shelby walks in, clothes muddied, hair escaping from a lacklustre ponytail, eyes half asleep.

Kendall thinks “I love you”

And it’s the way Shelby’s eyes lose all their sleepiness, and go wide. That makes Kendall realise she didn’t think that, but instead said it. So Kendall does the sensible smart thing, and makes a hasty retreat, making to run away and leave the room and the stunned Shelby in her wake.

The hand that clasps around her wrist as she turns on her heel tells her that she is going nowhere.

The crush of lips against her own, soft and everything she had ever dreamed off, late at night when it’s the forbidden thoughts she lets creep up on her. But now it’s here and so so real and so so perfect. And when she kisses back she can hear and feel this alternate timeline slip into place. When Shelby pulls back, rests their foreheads together, gazes into her eyes and says, ‘I love you too’. Kendall knows she has found her family. Found her home. In the arms of this stubborn smart gorgeous girl.

 

**Author's Note:**

> title from more than this - vanessa carlton


End file.
